Door closing mechanism



Dec, 3o, 1941. YH. BERLEY ETAL 2,268,013

' I DOOR CLOSING MECIIAIUSM Filed sept. 5o, 1938 s sheets-sheet 1` l'NvENToR S Dec.'30, 1941.V H. BERLEY Erm.

DOOR CLOSING MECHANI-SM Filed sept. so, 1958 5 sheets-sheet 2 s mw/m H m f A u, W1 B Patented Dec. 30, 1941 E DOOR CLOSING MECHANSM Harry Berley, Brooklyn, and Max Kohn, Swan Lake, N. Y.; said Kohn assgnor to said Bei-ley Application September 30, 1938, Serial No. 232,492

' (ci. ifi-'12) 1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in door closing mechanism, and more particularly to a door closing mechanism for coal burning furnaces.

When a heating plant employing a coal burning furnace is shut down at night or over the Week-end it is customary to bank the furnace res and leave the doors of the fire-box open to conserve fuel, and to close the fire-box doors in the early morning hours so that the building will be heated to a proper degree of comfort at the desired time. This requires a fireman to be present in the furnace room at an early hour merely to close the fire-box doors. Various attempts have been made to devise suitable mechanism for automatically closing the nre-box doors, but all of said prior mechanisms have been unsatisfactory because either too crude, too complicated, too uncertain in operation, too cumbersome, too costly, or because they unduly interfered with the normal manual operation of the furnace during normal business hours.

The principal object of this invention is a furnace door closing mechanism which eliminates all of the foregoing objections.

Another object is reliability in operation.

Another. object-is a exible system equally adapted for use with either single or double firebox doors regardless of size, and with either a single furnace or with a battery of furnaces.

Another object is a door control mechanism which can instantly be cut into and out of service at will as desired, and when cut out of service will not interfere with the normal manual operation of the furnace.

Another object is a door control mechanism of few and simple parts which can readily be installed upon any existing type of furnace at very small cost.

Another object is a control mechanism which can be installed upon any existing type of furnace by merely changing the pintles of the firebox door or doors.

Other objects are economy of time, labor and fuel.

Other objects will appear from the detailed description.

In the drawings comprising three sheets of twelve figures numbered Figs. 1 to 12 inclusive.

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a battery of furnaces with the control mechanism installed.

Fig. 2 is a top view of the fire-box doors with the control mechanism set looking downward substantially along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front view of the lower half of the fire-box doors of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 isa vertical cross section of a detail taken along the line 4 4 of Fig. l, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing how the lire-box door is propped open.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of an alternative form.

Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the control box` mechanism with cover removed taken along the line 1 1 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal cross-section taken along the line 8 8 of Fig. 7, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 9 is a horizontal cross-section taken along the line 9 9 of Fig. 7, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 10 is a top view of a fragment of the time clock dial.

Fig. 11 is a vertical cross-section taken along the line I E I I of Fig. l0, looking in the direction of the arrows; and

Fig. 12 is a Vertical cross-section taken along the line I2 l2 of Fig. 10, looking in the direction of the arrows. v

Like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several figures of the drawings.

Referring rst generally to Figure 1.a plurality of boilers 2 20 may be arranged in multiple to form a battery of furnacesV employing coal as fuel. The fire-box of each boiler 2G is provided with one or more fire-box doors 2 22, thenumber and size of the doors being dependent generally upon the boiler capacity. The 4invention is equally applicable to furnaces having either single or double fire-box doors, as the number of nre-box doors does not change the principle of loperation in any way. Each fire-box door 2 E ZZ is provided with upper and lower hinge members 24 24, said hinge members being pivotally supported upon the complementary upper and lowerl directly or indirectly supported by said common pintles Without any change or modification of the original furnace structure.

Each pintle 25 extends above the nre-box opening and supports a T socket 26 into which the opposite ends of a cross beam 21 are inserted to support said cross beam above the fire-box opening and clear the fire-box doors 2| and 22. Cross beam 21, which may either be solid or tubular may be bent if necessary to conform generally to the contour of the upper edge of the fire-box door. One or more adjustable cable blocks 223-23 (Fig. 4) are detachably mounted by means of a plurality of bolts 39-39 and nuts 43-48 upon the cross beam 21; each cable block being slidably adjustable relative to the cross beam and lockable thereon by a set screw 38, the set screw also constituting a supporting pin for a grooved pulley 31. A cable 29 is threaded over the grooved pulleys 31--31, so that said cable may be drawn over said pulleys in either direction as hereinafter described. Cable` 23 includes a plurality of branch cables 23a. (Fig. 5) therebeing one such branch cable for each lire-box door 2l-22; and a door prop 30 is attached to the outer end of each branch cable 29a, there being one such cable controlled door prop 38 for each fire-box door 2l-22. Each door prop 36 is rabbeted at its opposite ends at 14--14 to engage upon the oppositely disposed flanges l-16 of the fire-box frame 11 and the re-box door 22 (Fig. 5).

Each common pintle also carries a spring holder 33 pivotally supportedby the pintle (Fig.

6) for independent swinging movement thereon.

A leaf spring 34 (Fig. 2) or a coiled spring 35 (Fig. 6) is pivotally supported at 36 upon spring holder 33, so that spring 34 or 35 as the case may be, may be turned about its pivot 36 to engage or dis-engage the fire-box door as desired. In Fig. 3 the left-hand leaf spring 34 is shown in horizontal position in engagement with nre-box door 2|, and the right-hand leaf spring 34 is shown in vertical position disengaged from re-box door 22. The tension upon leaf spring 34 or coiled spring 35, as the case may be, may be regulated, by the spring adjusting screw 32` (Fig. 6), which bears against fire-box frame 11 to vary the setting of spring holder 33. Each spring holder 33 may be provided with a horizontal groove or with Ian upturned flange forming a back stop or rest 18 for the anchored end 13 of the spring when tensioned by engagement with the re-box door (see Fig. 6)

The cables 29-29 individual to each boiler 28-20 are detachably secured together by means of a cable connector 80 (Fig. l) to form one continuous cable extending through the cable blocks 28-28 to the control box 3| (Fig. 1), containing the time control mechanism. Cross beam 21 extends beyond boiler 20 to provide a support for control box 3| (compare Figs. 1, 2 and 8), the control box being attached to the cross beam 21 in any suitable manner as by means of the threaded bolts 59-59 (Fig. 8). The control box may be provided with a hinged door 54. Rods 42 and 43 extend through the side walls of box 3|, and furnish a support for sliding yoke 44 which forms one bearing of a plunger rod 41, the other end of said rod being slidably supported in a hollow protuberance 53 formed in the side wall of the control box 3|. A cross `arm 48 is adjustably mounted on rod 41. The cable or cables 29--29 are anchored to cross arm 43 in any suitable manner as'by means of the eye bolts 4|4 Coiled springs 45-46 are mounted upon rods 42' and 43 between the wall of the control box and sliding yoke 44, so that when yoke 44 (Fig. '1) is moved to the left as indicated by the dotted line position, energy is stored up in the coiled springs 45 and 46. When sliding yoke 44 is moved to the left cross arm 48 yalso moves to the left and the cables 29-29 are slackened so that thebranch cables 29a, (Fig. 5) carrying the door props are extended far enough to allow the door props to be inserted in the open fire-box doors substantially as indicated in Fig. 5, thereby maintaining the re-box doors 2| and 22 ajar against increased tension in leaf springs 34-34 (Fig. 2) or coiled spring 35 (Fig. 6). To slide yoke 44 to the left of control box 3| against the increased tension of coiled springs and 46, a re-setting handle 49 pivoted at 50 is provided. Handle 49 is provided with a cam 52, so that by inserting the ngers in finger grip 5| and swinging` re-setting handle 49 (Fig. 8) in Ya clockwise direction, cam 52 engages sliding yoke 44 and forces rod 41 to the left, until sliding yoke 44 reaches the dotted line position indicated inFig. '1, whereupon yoke 44 may be locked and prevented. from releasing by a suitable rod 64 (Fig. 9) forming a right angle extension of an L- shaped arm 6| which is journalled in a double eared mounting plate 62. The opposite end 63 of the L-sh'aped yoke 6| forms a tripping arm which may be actuated by an adjustable tripping cam 61 as hereinafter described. -A roller.65 mounted in the outer extremity of stop rod 64 engages sliding yoke 44 when said yoke is Vforced to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 7 and tripping arm 63 is turned clockwise to retain rod 64 and roller 65 at rightangles to yokev 44 substantially as shown in Fig. 9. So long as the sliding yoke 44 and plunger rod 41 are thus locked by roller 65 and rod 64 (Fig. 9), the door props 3i] will be held in position substantially as `indicated in Fig. 5.

A chronometer 8| mounted in control box 3|, said chronometer being provided with a disc rotating anti-clockwise and sub-divided into 48 sub-divisions corresponding to an intervalv of forty-eight hours, the dial making one complete revolution every 48 hours and being sub-divided into four quadrants 55, 56, 51 and 58, each quadrant indicating a period of twelve hours. The pointer .66 is the hour hand of the clock. An upstanding ange surrounds the peripheral edge of the dial, and a suitable adjustable cam mechanism is slidably mounted upon flange 6|) so'that the tripping cam 61 engages tripping arm 63 to move roller oi dead centre to permit coiled springs 45 and 46 bearing against yoke 44 to force stop rod 64 to release thereby releasing yoke 44 and door props 30 at any specific time in said forty-eight hour period for which the tripping cam 61 may be set. The trip pointer 12 indicates the time at which adjustable tripping vcam 61 will engage tripping arm .63 to release th mechanical train.

Cam 61 is slotted to t over the ange orrim 60 of the dial, and when the locking clamp 69 is in open position, cam 61 can be freely moved around dial flange 66 to set trip pointer 12 opposite any desired hour or fraction thereof within the 48 hour period, for which the dial is calibrated. To lock cam 61 in place upon dial flange 66, locking clamp 69 is pushed down to force a previously adjusted adjusting screw 1| and latch 13 against the ange of the dial 60, thus locking cam 61 in the desired position on flange or rim 60 of the dial.

The principle of operation is as follows:

The ires having been banked and the re doors 2|-22 lett open, the hour at which th'e fire doors are to be automatically closed is rst determined, whereupon the tripping cam mechanism is moved around dial flange 60 until trip pointer 12 points to the hour or fraction thereof within said 48 hour period at which the re doors shall be closed, latchi 'I3 is then pressed over dial flange 60 thus setting the adjustable tripping cam of the chronometer 8|. Re-setting handle 49 (Fig. 8) is moved counter-clockwise about its pivot 50 through an angle of approximately 90 degrees causing cam 52 to engage and force sliding yoke 44 to the left into the dotted line position indicated in Fig. '7, thus storing up energy in coiled springs 45 and 46. Trigger 63 is now moved counter-clockwise through an angle of 90 degrees until roller 65 carried by stop rod 64 engages sliding yoke 44 on dead centre of the stop rod 64, thus preventing yoke 44 from releasing stop rod 64 and from being forced to the right by the deenergizaltion of coiled springs 45 and 46. When sliding yoke 44 is moved to the left to the dotted line position (Fig. '7) cross arm 48 likewise moves to the left to impart slackness to cables 29-29, which slackness is taken up by branch cab-les 29a when door props 30 are inserted in position to keep nre-box doors 2| and 22 ajar, substantially as indicated in Figs. 2 and 5, against the tension of springs 34-34 (o1` 35-35, Fig. 6) as the case may be. At the appointed hour indicated by the trip pointer 12, tripping cam 61 engages trigger 63 moving trigger 63 slightly off position so that stop rod 64 carrying roller 65 is moved slightly oi dead centre with respect to yoke 44, whereupon the energy stored in coiled springs 45 and 46 forces sliding yoke 44 to complete the release of stop rod 64 by moving it counterclockwise through an angle of 90 degrees as the sliding yoke pressing against roller 65 is moved to the right by coiled springs 45 and 46, thus forcing plunger rod 41 to move to the right and apply tension upon cable 29 to lift door props 30 clear of the oppositely disposed flanges I5-16 of the fire-box frame 11 and door 22, thereby allowing the leaf springs 34-34 (Fig. 2) to close the fire-box doors 2I-22 in proper sequence to seal the re-box. The nre-box doors 2l-22 are set ajar at diierent angles (see Fig. 2), so that the inner door of tthe re-box will close rst.

Upon his arrival in the furnace room, the attendant turns the leaf springs 34-34 into an upright position, so as to disengage them from the fire-box doors 2|-22 (see Fig. 3), and the doors may now be opened and closed manually at will in the normal manner. The cable connector positioned between each pair of boilers 2li- 20 may be removed, so th'at the cable 29 will not interfere with free passage between the boilers.

What is claimed is:

Door operating mechanism for changing a normally manually controlled door over to mechanically controlled operation and back again at will comprising a leaf spring and a holder therefor, said holder being adapted to be pivotally mounted upon the door pintle, said leaf spring being pivotally connected to said holder to enable the spring to rotate relative to said holder back and forth across the face of the door from one setting to another, said leaf spring being normally settable out of engagement with the door and in rie-energized condition when said door is to be manually controlled, said leaf spring being settable in engagement with the door and operable responsive to the movement of the door in one direction to store up energy under increased tension for controlling the return movement of the door, and a screw adjustably mountedin the holder and contacting a xed abutment means for limiting the pivotal movement of said holder and to regulate the energy stored up in the leaf spring.

HARRY BERLEY. MAX KOI-IN. 

